text: Plasmas are by far the most common phase of ordinary matter in the universe, both by mass and by volume.
  Above the Earths surface, the ionosphere is a plasma, and the magnetosphere contains plasma. Within our Solar System, interplanetary space is filled with the plasma expelled via the solar wind, extending from the Suns surface out to the heliopause. Furthermore, all the distant stars, and much of interstellar space or intergalactic space is also filled with plasma, albeit at very low densities. Astrophysical plasmas are also observed in accretion disks around stars or compact objects like white dwarfs, neutron stars, or black holes in close binary star systems. Plasma is associated with ejection of material in astrophysical jets, which have been observed with accreting black holes or in active galaxies like M87's jet that possibly extends out to 5,000 light-years.